Master Gardeners: Views from the Cabbage Patch

Multitudes of citizens with gardening problems needing individual explanation and too few professional Extension staff members to physically answer each individual question" is how Wesenberg and Whiting expressed the dilemma facing Extension horticulturists.1 To satisfy this need, the Master Gardener program was born in Washington State in 1972, enabling volunteers interested in horticulture to be trained in basic horticultural topics by Extension Service personnel and then answer calls about gardening problems and promote horticultural understanding in their communities.Idaho's Master Gardener program began in 1977 and today has grown to 200 Master Gardeners in 11 counties.